looking out over the hills to the world beyond

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looking out over the hills to the world beyond

While our life and work is centered in the hills of Umbria, our world is much broader. In over two decades of living, traveling, working and creating we have made friends in many places and had the opportunity to catch a glimpse of some of the many worlds that make up our planet. From herding goats in Umbria to preparing fufu in a Togolese backyard to respectfully swimming with turtles in the Caribbean we try to witness the beauty and complexity of our island of blue in the empty vastness of space. While it is incumbent on each of us to reduce our impact on the environment, it is also important to document the variety that surrounds us and allow future generations to experience them.

Press

Publications

Retracing the epic trip of Scottish adventurer Mungo Park in Senegal and Mali; visiting a little girl whose Umbrian home town of Norcia was haunted by an angry monster – the series of earthquakes that hit Central Italy in the summer and fall of 2016; or writing book summaries, reviews and regular blog posts for getAbstract: writing about people, places, and points in question that matter to most of us.

They are literally trying to build a monastery city according to a plan jotted down (and never built) in the Carolingian era around the 800s. Not merely to fake the old look, but as a project in living archeology, using strictly the methods and technology that were available at that time. It’s a crazy project.

Who wouldn't want to get a free ride to the promised land, and an all-inclusive one to boot? That's what the little critter you see on the right-hand side of the map must have thought, when it snug into the car

"California is a garden of Eden, a paradise to live in or see;/But believe it or not, you won't find it so hot/If you ain't got the do re mi.“ Woodie Guthrie sang this in 1937, partly as a warning to his people from the dustbowl states on their way to the promised land. A few decades later Bob Marley sang "Money can't buy life" - and I'm sure that many of the original counter-culture people happily sang along.

Philadelphia, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Colorado: It's been 10 days since we left on our road trip - and the experience in each of the 10 states we came through couldn't have been more varied and surprising.

They are literally trying to build a monastery city according to a plan jotted down (and never built) in the Carolingian era around the 800s. Not merely to fake the old look, but as a project in living archeology, using strictly the methods and technology that were available at that time. It’s a crazy project.

After the terrible earthquake of October 30th, 2016, one of my most favorite spots in the world seemed to have taken a final blow. The magical village of Castelluccio, perched high in the Apennines at 1500 meters, had crumbled to pieces. Only two houses or so were still standing.